title: Prevalence of atrial fibrillation in China and its risk factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) and the relation with its risk factors in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 19 363 participants (8635 males and 10 728 females) aged ⋝35 years in geographically dispersed urban and rural regions of China were included in this cross-sectional survey. All participants received questionnaire, physical and blood examination. Echocardiography were performed for AF patients found in the survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 19 363 participants, 199 were diagnosed with AF. The estimated age-standardized prevalence of AF was 0.78% in men and 0.76% in women. The prevalence of AF in participants aged <60 years was 0.41% in men and 0.43% in women, and was 1.83% in both men and women aged ⋝60 years. About 19.0% of males and 30.9% of females with AF were diagnosed with valve disease. Age- and sex-adjusted multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that myocardial infarction, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), obesity, and alcohol consumption were associated with a increased risk of AF(P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The age standardized prevalence of AF is 0.77% in the participants enrolled in the present study. The number of AF cases aged ⋝35 years is 5.26 million according to 2010 Chinese Census. Most risk factors for AF, identified mainly in Western countries, are also detected in China.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100037, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yang Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ke Ping
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gao Qiang
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Fang Zheng
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Chinese population; Epidemiology; Risk factors